Immigration reform’s other hurdle

The Republican divide on whetherundocumented immigrants can become citizens is consuming most of the headlines. But there’s a trickier issue at play that ultimately could prove to be a bigger stumbling block for immigration reform: a guest-worker program for future immigrants.

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Obama on working with GOP

SOTU 2014: Immigration

Last March,the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reached a delicately crafted deal on the number of low-skilled workers — such as hospitality employees — who can legally come into the country. That deal is a major reason why the Senate reform bill was able to pass in June.

But House Republicans have not yet resolved this thorny problem — the GOP principles released last week only broadly touch the issue — and Republicans are split over whether to raise or reduce the number of guest workers coming into the country, according to several top sources close to the issue.

Meanwhile, Democrats will be reluctant to depart from the high-stakes agreement struck between labor and business.

“There are serious divisions because there are some people who, frankly, just don’t want a lot of folks coming from the outside,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) on Wednesday. Pointing to the current jobless rate, he added: “They have some very legitimate arguments.”

If a House solution veers too far from the Senate deal on guest workers, key officials believe the entire reform effort could collapse. That’s because it risks losing support from the pivotal constituencies who helped pass comprehensive immigration reform last year.

One person close to the Senate negotiations said one of the key reasons for the success of the Senate bill is because of “very carefully crafted compromises” on the guest-worker programs. These pacts formed a marked change from the previous failed effort at comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, the person noted.

“Attempts to unravel these deals will not only show bad faith, they will likely prove fatal to the overall effort,” the person warned.

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), who was part of a group of eight House lawmakers who tried to write a comprehensive immigration bill last year, added that if either major constituency backed out of the reform effort, “it would make it very difficult” to do an overhaul.

“We don’t know why [guest workers] should be a difficult issue,” said Yarmuth, encapsulating the thinking among Democrats. “When you’ve got labor and the U.S. Chamber agreeing … it seems to me that it shouldn’t be tough.”

Still, the divide over a guest-worker program is something that had already tripped up that House group long before the secretive negotiations were disbanded last year. Last spring, Democrats and Republicans had agreed to present separate proposals — Democrats would stick to the Chamber-labor agreement while Republicans would write a plan that was more business-friendly.

Since the House GOP leadership released a set of broad principles last week, immigration reform has gained some momentum as key lawmakers and the White House said they were encouraged by the GOP blueprint and indicated some openness on certain policy provisions. For instance, President Barack Obama signaled in a CNN interview last week that he can be flexible on a new, “special” pathway to citizenship that Republicans oppose but Democrats generally favor. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also said she welcomed the release of the principles.

But underneath that optimism lies a web of complicated details that will have to be sorted out as lawmakers draft language to accompany the principles. What to do with a new guest-worker program will be one of the thorniest issues.

“It’s hard to figure out how this issue gets resolved in the House when Republicans are split between those that want low visa numbers and those who want a market-based system, while Dems are unlikely to undermine a deal between archenemies — labor and the Chamber of Commerce,” said one senior House GOP aide close to the issue.